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As companies continue to seek advantages over their competitors, some startups are finding new ways to innovate, Soren Kaplan writes. For example, some businesses are making their customers active participants in the product-development process. Other companies are adopting social missions and focusing on the customer experience, he notes.

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Entrepreneur Rumeet Billan got the idea to add a social mission to her company -- funding the construction of a school -- after confronting the possibility of failure. No matter what industry you're in, she recommends asking yourself, "[I]f I lost everything tomorrow, what did I do with what I had?"

As you grow your company, it's critical to study the market and find a way to make your product stand out, Mark Evans writes. "[A] startup doesn't have to be significantly different or unique; it just needs to have a slant, angle or approach that isn't like everyone else," he writes.

Early in your startup's lifespan, it can be difficult to determine whether you should stay on your current course, modify your approach or shut down completely, David Teten writes. A sign that you should keep going is that you recently have been able to recruit a new employee, client or investor with no previous relationship to your business to become involved. Otherwise, it might be time for a change, he writes.

Smart companies use leapfrogging strategies to solve big problems and get an edge on rivals, writes Soren Kaplan. That's how Apple came up with the iPod and how Target learned to differentiate itself from Wal-Mart, Kaplan writes. "Ask yourself: In what ways are we holding onto the status quo? What are the breakthroughs that we want to create and lead?" he advises.

Papa John's is running a promotion using social media to invite pizza lovers into the chain's product-development department. Three customer-submitted pizzas will be on the menu for the month of August, and their creators have been invited to run social-media marketing campaigns to promote their entries. The winning dish will be permanently added to the chain's menu. "It's a way to leverage what we already do, talking to our customers about quality and getting ideas for new pizzas from inside and outside the company," says the company's digital marketing chief.